SMS Open: Marcos Baghdatis warned for unsportsmanlike behaviour after texting his wife during grand slam match

Like a schoolkid chastised by a teacher for texting in class, a player at the US Open was caught using his cellphone during a changeover and was admonished by the chair umpire.

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open, got in trouble on Sunday while losing his fourth-round match against 10th-seeded Gael Monfils of France 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.

Baghdatis explained to reporters that he was trying to send a message to his wife.

After getting broken to fall behind 4-1 in the second set, Baghdatis sat in his sideline chair during a changeover and fiddled with his phone, holding it near a white towel that was on his lap. Using a phone during a professional tennis match is not allowed, and chair umpire Alison Hughes noticed what was going on.

So after telling the two players the break was over, she announced to the crowd at the Grandstand, “Code violation. Unsportsmanlike conduct. Warning, Baghdatis.”

At the subsequent changeover, two games later, the 31-year-old Baghdatis stood near Hughes’ chair to discuss the warning and plead his case, offering this defence: “I cannot look at the time? (What) if I want to look at the time?”